Post partum depression I am hopeful that someone still reads these communities. I am looking for advice on how to handle post partum depression and a colicky baby.

My son was born on August 2nd 2005. And as wonderful as it should feel. I don't feel 'happy' at all. I'm scared, distraught, alone, frustrated, angry, and depressed. I am currently active duty Navy and my husband is deployed to Japan with the Marine Corps. We're both stationed in Hawaii. I don't have a lot of friends, and I have no family on the island. My mother was here, but left last week. Luckily she will be returning this coming week, because my son has been diagnosed with Colic, and I think I am reaching the scary breaking point with my undiagnosed post partum depression.

Bleeding? Hi, my name is Jennifer. Tomorrow will be exactly six weeks since I gave birth to my lovely daughter Alyssa, and I have a question regarding bleeding.

Initially after giving birth I bled very heavily, as expected. However, by a week or two postpartum the bleeding was minimal, and by the third and fourth weeks postpartum the bleeding was nothing more than spotting.
Finally, about two weeks ago, the bleeding started up again. In fact, for the past two days I've been soaking through the plus-sized, extra-long, extra-absorbent with wings (lol) overnight pads (Always brand) within two-three hours. The blood is mostly bright red, and varies from being rather runny to being clotty. However, I'm experiencing no cramping or pain.

Is this something to be concerned about? Am I just overdoing things? For the past two weeks I have been managing two houses and household chores -my own (though my husband is helping out as best as he can), and my mother's. She had carpal tunnel surgery on Nov. 30th and I've been staying at her house since then, cooking every day, doing all the household things, running errands, taking care of my brothers (ages 9 and 6), and of course, taking care of my daughter. I've also been sick with a bad cold/virus for about two weeks now, as I've been run down and not getting enough sleep (not nearly enough; a lot of nights no more than three-four hours of broken sleep, and maybe a nap for an hour or two in the afternoon), so I haven't been able to get rid of it (and now my husband AND daughter have it, so I'm sure we'll be passing it back and forth until spring).

I don't know if it makes a difference or not, but I am breastfeeding. Thanks for any input. I just want to ask around before going nuts and calling the OB.

Hi, I had my second son two weeks and one day ago. During giving birth I only had a little rip. I had to get 1 or 2 stictches. I'm hardly bleeding anymore and my stitched area hasn't really hurt at all. I feel totally fine down there. It's 6 weeks you're suppose to wait to have sex right? Well that seems like a long time. I've actually already had sex (we were very careful), but now I'm a lil' bit worried. Is the reason you're suppose to wait so long just so you don't rip your stitches or is there more reasons? Is there anything inside that can be damaged from having sex too soon? I still felt fine even after sex.

Sorry if I sound uneducated. With my first son I was in pain forever, this time I feel fine, so it's hard to wait.

a bit of self-promotion I just started a new community, parentingdebate. This is an open forum for debate on any topic related to parenting. I will not tolerate any disrespectful posts or comments or any personal attacks of any sort. This community is supposed to be an appropriate place for those who like to have a good spirited discussion on the ever-growing number of controversial topics out there. All opinions and people are welcome.

it's about time Hey everyone...I have great news. Little Julianna Emily Berard has entered the world. She was born on March 24, 2004 (41w5d)at 4:42am 8lbs 11ozs 21 3/4 inches long the labor was about 5 or 6 hours and the delivery was only about 15 minutes. that's really short, but trust me it didn't feel like it was that short. i got the epidural, but it was given too late, so i felt the whole entire thing. but that's all for now. any questions let me know.....and jenna don't worry i'll send you some pictures as soon as i get them on-line.

Hungry hungry little girl! First off let me start by saying I love the fact that i get so much feed back and so many different opinions from posting in these few parenting communities that i belong to. So, in advance and for that advice which has been offered in the past, THANK YOU :)

Now here i go again. Another question for all you wise ones out there.Genevieve is 25 weeks old and on solids as well as breastfed. I feed her solids twice a day and she gets so excited when I put her in her high chair...it's really cute. She really seems to enjoy everything i have given her so far. I breastfeed her for a few minutes before feeding her solids so she is not starting on an empty stomach and sometimes afterwords she nurses again to top her self off. So she usually eats about and ounce of fruit or veg (sometimes with cereal mixed in, sometimes not) along with about 15 minutes worth of nursing.Latley she has graduated to eating a whole jar of fruit or veg mixed with cereal (oats or rice) and still is nursing just as much. Aside from all of that she is nursing every 3 hours just like always and for at least 20 minutes each time. Sometimes an hour after eating solids and nursing, she eats again!Also it seems she is eating more and more at night latley, at least every 2-3 hours.So do i chalk this up to a growth spurt? Should i try to feed her solids more through out the day? I want to keep breastfeeding her as long as she is willing. An eventually i'd like to get a little sleep at night!Advice, opinions, similar situations? Anybody?

2 questions....(crossposted like crazy) First question: Is anybody in Orange County, CA?Second question: Do you know of a place i can donate my maternity clothes, like a womens shelter? I can't seem to find a local shelter and i'd really like to see these clothes go to somebody who really needs them rather than to somewhere to be sold for proffit.

I always get really good responses when posting in this community and hope that somebody has some info on this one, too!Thank you in advance.

New mom with a question- Hello...I'm new to Live Journal, and new to mothering. I've been trying to get my midwife on the phone all week, but in the meantime figured I'd put my question out-I have a three and a half month old baby Grace who feeds almost every hour to every two hours during the day, and then sleeps through the night (from about 9 or 10pm until 8am!) without nursing. This past Sunday I started bleeding pretty heavily, and I'm hoping it's just a period. I'm still bleeding but not as bad. Is this normal? Do women get their periods this early after giving birth, especially to a baby who nurses so voraciously during the day? I'd appreciate any advice! Thank you :)

Wedding and Breastfeeding I want to thank everyone for the comments and advice I received for nursing my son at my sister-in-laws wedding. It went great. He cried during the ceremony tjo be fed and I used the sling and it hid enough to make those that didn't like it feel a little more comfortable and at the same time we didn't miss any of the wedding at all. The boat ride was great and not having to hide out while feeding him felt wonderful.

C-section mamas.... Hi all. I have a question for the rest of you who have had C-sections. How long did it take for you to not experience any discomfort anymore? I know I'm all healed up, but it's like all that tissue is still 'angry' or something, especially the skin and the muscles underneath. I guess I'm hoping I'm not tender on my belly for the rest of my life. If you have any experience, I'd be grateful for your input.

Hello. I have been lurking here for a while and now I have a question. When I breastfed my first child nothing went right and because of several health and other concerns I had to stop at 3 months and I don't want that happening with my son.

I have been trying to breastfeed and pump, but I haven't had much luck getting anything pumped in between feedings. He is 3 weeks old and eats every 2 to 3 hours and 15 to 20 minutes on each side. My sister-in-laws wedding is tomorrow and I am hoping to be able to give him a bottle instead of nursing him since she and a few other people are uncomfortable with it and I want to make sure that her wedding day doesn't have anything that will make her uncomfortable other than the normal things that happen at a wedding.

Can anyone help me figure this out? What is the best time and way to pump in between feedings and how long does milk last in the fridge. I know in the freezer it lasts for a long time, but what about if its just in the fridge?

Okay, I'm two weeks postpartum, and I still get heartburn way too often - and I'm NOT eating any spicy foods. My midwives told me it would go away slowly, but how much longer will I have to keep TUMS in business? Not to mention that I still have some ligament pain on the inside of my left thigh... shouldn't this stuff be getting back to normal?

hi(crossposted)sorry hi, i've been in this community for a little bit but i never send a post. so i figured i'd post now. i'm 21 years old and in february i lost a set of twin boys. i was only 26 weeks along and went inot labor while sitting at home. one of them was still born, and the other lived for 17 days. there was a situation with the twins called acardiac twinning. if you don't know what that is you can ask me. we knew that one of the twins would die when i gave birth(he was technically already past when we found out at my 5 month ultrasound) but to lose the healthy one too cause i went early was just unbearable. my boyfriend and i took a while to get acustomed to that. but i stopped taking my birth control about a month ago. we decided it we were ready. now i think that i am currently pregnant...which would be great in my book and my boyfriend would love it. i haven't taken a test yet, but my period runs from 28-32 days and yesterday made 32 days...still nothing. so i'm gonna buy a test and we'll see. just an informing post. and if anyone has suggestions for a boys name that would be great...we already have a girls name picked out from when i was pregnant before.

Hello...I'm graduating over here from the pregnant and pregnantwomen communities. Aubrey Blake was born June 26th, and so far seems to be doing pretty well.

So, I'm only a week postpartum, but I'd like to get back to doing some very simple yoga - I did prenatal yoga up until about eight months in my pregnancy (got really lazy that last month and simply did squats). I don't know if anyone else here does yoga, but I'm wondering if there's anything I should avoid (I'm guessing inverted poses are out while the lochia's still around). I don't plan to do much right away, but I definitely need something to help with my spine and to de-stress. (Because now I'm raising three boys.) Or if anyone has suggestions for good poses to help facilitate healing. I had a fairly easy vaginal birth, no tears or complications of an sort, all natural waterbirth, but I still need to "tone up" down there.

Opinions please? (cross posted) A conversation with my husband's grandmother the other day sparked a question to which nobody in our family or circle or friends seems to know the answer to and i was hoping maybe that someone here may have some input. My Issue: Neither my husband or I are religious people. His father was a religious fanatic and broke his family apart because of it. My mom tried to instil religion and the love of god in my but i never really bought into any of it, thus forming no beliefs of my own. Religion is not part of our lives and therefor we will leave it up to our daughter to choose her own beliefs when the time comes. We will support her decision if she chosses to believe a certain thing but will not push into anything, and we will not push into our beliefs or lack there of.My Question: Because we do not choose to have her baptised/christened we will not have any documentation of "God parents". How do we go about documenting the gardians we have chosen for if something should happen to us?